Telepathic Betrayal
by Impulse5
Summary: This is placed in Season Two when Emma is Alive. Pairing EJ BS When a telepathic teenage girl is targeted by GSA, it's up to Mutant X to save her.
1. Discovery

Mason Eckhart sat in his comfortable Italian leather chair at his oak desk. "I've been thinking, Thorne. Maybe we're going about this the wrong way."  
  
Thorne was confused. "What do you mean, Mr. Eckhart?"  
  
Mason rubbed his forehead, below the stark white hair. "Well, after the unfortunate failure to capture and keep Mr. Mulwray and Ms. DeLauro . . . maybe we should start taking the younger children of Genomex."  
  
"Pardon me?"  
  
"Well, there are younger mutants, teenagers, children. We could promise them a home of comfort for their gifts, teenagers are so confused . . ." Mason settled on the idea. "Get me a list of a telepaths."  
  
In Stormking Mountain***  
  
Adam Kane was clicking away on the computer, he had just established a computer tracker, tracking all the moves on Genomex's computer. "Mmm . . ."  
  
Shalimar Fox stood next to him. "What's up?"  
  
"Well . . . someone is looking for a list for young telepaths."  
  
"I wonder why?"  
  
"I don't know . . . look! They just narrowed down the search to orphans, and the age of 13 to 14. Only one name came up . . ."  
  
"What is that?" Shalimar asked.  
  
"Carli Connors."  
  
* * *In the Double Helix * * *  
  
Jesse Kilmartin piloted the large plane into the sky. "All right . . . I'll land a block away from her house."  
  
Shalimar nodded. "All right, Brennan, you ready?"  
  
Brennan Mulwray nodded. "Of course . . ."  
  
Shalimar and Brennan walked down the alley. "She lives here?"  
  
"Yeah, her foster parents are the superintendents of that hotel." Jesse replied from the MX comm rings.  
  
Shalimar heard glass breaking. "This is the place."  
  
* * *Inside* * *  
  
Two GSA agents dodged glass being thrown at them from the fourteen year old girl, she wore pants that were a little too big for her and a red tanktop.  
  
"We're just trying to help!" one of the agents tried to convince.  
  
"Oh . . . and why don't I believe you, huh?" Carli shouted as she threw a plate at them.  
  
Shalimar and Brennan kicked open the door, Shalimar took an agent by his head and smashed it down onto her knee while Brennan's hands lit up with blue electricity and he shot it at the other, knocking him unconscious.  
  
"Whoa! I gotta get me that!" Carli shouted, then she hopped off the counter where she got all the plates.  
  
"It's all right, you're OK now."  
  
"Let's see if you can say that when Ms. Lyons sees this mess!" Carli shouted. "Who were those guys?"  
  
Shalimar stumbled.   
  
"Shalimar, Brennan, take Carli to the Helix. We'll keep her there until the coast is clear," Adam's voice instructed.  
  
Shalimar held out her hand. "Come on, you're coming with us."  
  
Carli's eyes got skeptical. Then something made her nod. "OK." 


	2. Location

* * *  
  
Carli walked down the street with Shalimar and Brennan. "What are your names?" Carli asked, a little skeptical.  
  
Shalimar smiled when she smelled a touch of fear from Carli. "My name's Shalimar, that's Brennan."  
  
Carli nodded, she caught up with Brennan and looked at him. "That was cool with whole lightning thing. I can read people's minds---Can you do something like Brennan?" she asked Shalimar.  
  
"Not with electricity ..." she replied. "What can you do?" she asked, playing as if she didn't know.  
  
"Oh--me? I can read people's minds, sometimes. And predict things, I call myself a telepathicseer. Clairvoyance, ESP, lotta names for it."  
  
"That's a mouthful," Brennan mentioned.  
  
"Be nice," Shalimar snapped at Brennan. "The name for what I have is feline-feral."  
  
"You know what? I heard about that, yellow eyes, that sort? I looked it up on the Internet."  
  
"Do you know why those guys were after you?"  
  
"They offered to give me a whole new life, with people just like me. But I saw right through him, I knew something wasn't right so I started throwing things at them."  
  
They got to Double Helix, Carli stopped dead in her tracks. "Wow! That is so cool! Looks like something straight out of Star Wars."  
  
"It's called the Double Helix," informed Shalimar.  
  
Carli laughed. "Double Helix? Who would name that after DNA?" Carli asked.  
  
***Inside the Helix***  
  
Carli sat on a table. "OK, OK. So . . . you're Adam, you're Jesse, and you're Emma and you are all a part of a team that saves the world called Mutant X?"  
  
"That's the gist," Jesse replied.   
  
"And you saved me from two agents from something called GSA that takes mutants like me?"  
  
"Yes," Adam replied.  
  
"OK, not to disappoint anybody but I'm not that hot-shot of a telepathicseer, OK? I mean, I don't "see" anything, I sense things. Bad feelings, and when I read people's minds it's like I don't have ANY control. I just blurt things out and they happen to be true."  
  
"Well, you're only fourteen, you can't call on your power like Brennan and Shalimar can."  
  
"Oh, well, what are your powers?" Carli asked Emma and Jesse.  
  
Adam lifted his hands. "Wait, how do you know I am not mutant?"  
  
Carli lifted her hands as well. "See what I mean? I just know things, things just pop into my head!"   
  
Emma smiled. "My power is similar to yours, I'm a telempath."  
  
"Telempath?" Carli asked, confused.  
  
"I can sense people's emotions and influence them."  
  
"Ohhh . . . that makes sense. How cool! So, can you sense my emotions too?"  
  
"Yes . . . you are a little scared, and confused, and excited."  
  
"Wow! . . . and what about you Jesse Kilmartin . . . damn, did it again!" Carli cursed when she figured out his last name.   
  
Jesse smiled. "I can change the density of my body, I can be intangable one second or be solid as a rock wall another."  
  
"Wow! You know what, you must be the only other mutants I've ever met," Carli replied. "So, where are we going?"  
  
"Our Sanctuary, it's secret, none of GSA or Genomex knows where it is."  
  
"Cool . . ." Carli replied. 


	3. Heroes

***In Sanctuary***  
  
Carli walked around Sanctuary, she didn't know that it was in Stormking Mountain. "Wow . . . this is so cool. You live here?"  
  
"Yup," Jesse replied.  
  
"Wow, since when did superheroes get the good place to live, I mean, Batman lived in a cave, Superman lived in a place where it was only ice."  
  
"Yeah, we're different . . . so you like superheroes?" Emma asked.  
  
"Of course, the best kind of heroes. The ones with super powers, not very ironic, is it?" Carli asked. "So, when can I go back home?"  
  
"Uh---we're not sure you can go home, Carli. The GSA won't stop looking for you if you go back."  
  
"Well it's not like I can just get out of town, now can I? I'm under age, I haven't even got my permit yet! . . . But I could---"  
  
"Wait, you can't stay here," Adam replied. "I don't need to be a telepath to know what you're thinking."  
  
"You can stay at a safe-house. With a lot of other mutants."  
  
Carli blinked. "Not all mutants are good people, Adam. I know it."  
  
Shalimar leaned closer to Brennan. "She kinda creeped me out there," she whispered.  
  
"Look, Carli, you can't stay here," Adam said more final. "Not forever, maybe a couple of days."  
  
Carli's expression brightened up a little. "OK."  
  
Shalimar stepped in and put her arm around Carli's shoulder. "So, Carli, tell me about your favorite superheroes."  
  
"Yeah, me too," Emma stated as she walked beside Carli as well.  
  
"Well, there's JLA. Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, Hawkgirl . . ." her voice trailed off as they disappeared around the corner.  
  
Jesse sat behind his computer. "Carli's right, I mean, all the mutants that we have in that safehouse is twice her age at the most. She needs to be with people she knows."  
  
"I know that, Jesse, but not us."  
  
* * *At Dinner* * *  
  
Carli got her own small pizza and she crossed her legs in a chair, she hadn't spoken much.  
  
"Hey, Carli," started Brennan. "How come Superman took bullets with his chest but he always ducked when someone threw a gun at him?"  
  
Carli grinned. Jesse answered. "As a bulletproof man myself, I'll answer that: Even though we're impervious to bullets, when something thrown at our head, it could hit our eyes and we could lose sight of them for a second, giving them a chance to run away: as with ducking, we could keep our eyes on the person easily."  
  
Then everyone started to laugh at Jesse's answer, though it wasn't very funny, it took the tension away between them. Jesse watched Emma laugh 'she is so beautiful when she smiles' he thought. Suddenly, someone elses voice came into his head. 'You love her don't you?' Carli's voice asked. 'I can tell'  
  
Jesse turned and Carli wasn't facing him but was concentrated. 'Get out of my head'  
  
Carli blinked and then took a bite out her pizza.  
  
Jesse knew that Carli was hiding something about her powers. 


	4. Every Day

This chapter's rated PG.   
  
* * *  
  
The next morning, about ten, Carli was sleeping on the couch. It had been almost an hour since Shalimar tried to coax her to get up. Emma was standing above her, crossing her arms, her eyes analyzing.  
  
"I cannot remember when I slept that long when I was fourteen," she said to herself.  
  
Jesse overheard. "I did . . . drove my mother crazy. Always late for school."  
  
Emma jumped at the sound of his voice but recovered quickly, and smiled warmly. "Well, Adam wants her awake for a body scan to analyze her mutation." She crouched down. "Carli . . . you got to wake up," she said gently, giving Jesse the chills.   
  
Carli moaned and rolled over. "Not yet," she muttered.  
  
Emma sighed impatiently. "Fine, wanna play that way . . ." a star shaped light beam shot from her forehead to Carli's.   
  
Carli shot straight up. "Oh NO! You did not just use your powers on me!"   
  
"Good, you're awake, Adam wants you in ten minutes."  
  
Jesse laughed. Carli muttered something under her breath and then swung her feet over the edge of the couch. "Yeah, great."  
  
* * *In the Kitchen* * *  
  
Shalimar was fixing herself some breakfast when Brennan came walking in, he was always grumpy in the morning. "'D morning," he mumbled.  
  
"Yeah, 'morning," she repeated like she did every morning. "Capn' Crunch or Lucky Charms?"  
  
"Lucky Charms," he answered. "Yogurt or granola?"  
  
"Mmm, yogurt, got any strawberry left?" Shalimar asked.   
  
"Uh--nope, ate it yesterday."  
  
"Damn . . . what about blueberry?" Shalimar asked, pouring some milk on her cereal.  
  
Brennan grumbled. "I want it."  
  
Shalimar's jaw dropped. "But I want it . . ." she turned her head and gave a sexy smile. "Can't you just give it to me today?"  
  
"Drop the smile, Shal, chivalry's dead," Brennan said with a grin.  
  
Shalimar's smile faded and she beaded her eyes and reached for it. Brennan was faster, he grabbed it and held it above her head. Shalimar glared playfully and reached for it with one hand, and the other one touched his chest. "Brennan, I'm gonna get that blueberry."  
  
"Not if you can grow a foot before it expires, Shal," Brennan challenged. "I'm going to eat it."  
  
Shalimar wrapped an arm around his neck and reached for it with her other arm, Brennan's arm went around her waist, absentmindedly. "No you're not!"   
  
Brennan's head was turned towards the raised blueberry yogurt, he turned his head, towards Shalimar. Their faces were only inches apart, Brennan's arm dropped, so did Shalimar. Their eyes were locked into each other's. In the heat of the moment, their lips found each other and they closed their eyes. The kiss became deeper and deeper every second, Brennan dropped the fussed over yogurt and went to the back of Shalimar's neck.  
  
Shalimar broke away suddenly. "Wait, I shouldn't have don't that."  
  
Brennan suddenly realized what had happened. "Yeah, right. I'm sorry."  
  
"No, it was---well---I gotta go. You can have the yogurt," she stuttered and then she walked away, her hand sweeping back her hair.  
  
Brennan stood there like a dummy, 'it was wrong, we both know that . . . but why did it feel so right?' he thought to himself. 


	5. Kiss

* * * In Emma's Bedroom* * *  
  
Emma was meditating in her bedroom, different scents and shadows were surrounding her from candles and incense. Suddenly, her thoughts were broken as there was a knock at the door. "Come in . . ." Shalimar walked inside, almost immediately, Emma knew something was up.  
  
"What happened?" she asked, skeptically. Shalimar didn't respond right away, Emma turned her whole body around. "What???"   
  
Shalimar sighed. "I kissed Brennan."  
  
Emma's jaw dropped, then was covered up by a grin. "You what?" She exclaimed. "No way! . . . When?"  
  
"Just now . . . in the kitchen," Shalimar motioned outside, then she told Emma the whole story.  
  
Emma frowned. "Well . . . that's the only kiss that I know of that happened after a fight over blueberry yogurt."  
  
Shalimar laughed. "I don't what to do . . . I mean, after I got away, I've been feeling awkward."   
  
Emma made a face. "Well, of course. I mean, who wouldn't be? After that happened, both of you are probably wondering how you feel about the other."  
  
Shalimar pointed her finger and squinted her eyes. "See, that whole perception thing is creepy."  
  
Emma grinned. "Yeah, well, it's about to be a whole lot creepier depending on what we're gonna do with Carli Connors."  
  
Shalimar frowned and crossed her legs on Emma's bed. "There's something not right about her, I'm not saying I know anything, persay. But her clairvoyance is too overpowering. She knows things that no fourteen-year-old should know."  
  
"I know exactly how she's feeling, when I was a teenager, I had to deal with knowing so much too. I remember not being able to tell anyone. And with her powers of just saying things outloud, that has to be extra difficult."  
  
"Yeah? Well what about me, huh? I was a teen who could almost fly, imagine what gym was like! And highschool? Whoever pissed me off would get a whole lot more than what they were asking for."  
  
"So, we all had a troubled adolescence . . . the only difference is; that when we were teenagers we didn't have a place like this to go to," Emma replied.  
  
* * *Jesse's Computer Station* * *  
  
Jesse's jaw dropped. "You did what?"  
  
Brennan shrugged. "I kissed her."  
  
Jesse stopped typing on his computer and swivelled his chair around to face Brennan. "Shalimar?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Jesse sighed with relief.   
  
"Why? What were you gonna do if I kissed Emma, huh, Jess?" Brennan asked.  
  
Jesse recovered quickly from the let down of his guard. "Won't bother me."   
  
Brennan raised his eyebrows. "Right."  
  
* * *Down the Hall* * *  
  
Carli and Adam walked down the hall. "According to the scan, your brain has a lot of untapped power, like Emma's. The only key is to controlling it, now, Shalimar and Emma are going to help you focus on controlling your powers, and maybe not saying your predictions outloud."  
  
"Yay, will make going to school a lot easier if I stop talking about how my friends are gonna fail their algebra test next week," Carli joked.  
  
"Do your friends know what you can do?"  
  
"Nope, they think it's just coincidence," Carli replied, suddenly, Shalimar and Emma emerged from Emma's bedroom and joined them, Adam walked away. Carli was feeling a little awkward with them hanging at each side of her.  
  
"I hope you know that I'm feeling very uncomfortable with you always sneaking up on me," Carli mentioned to Shalimar.  
  
"She does that a lot," Emma answered. "It's part of her abilities . . ."  
  
"The element of surprise," Shalimar finished, Shalimar and Emma led Carli to a spacious room that was only filled with a cart of weapons such as batons, Chinese throwing stars, blades, swords, and axes. "Now, unlike mine and Emma's abilities, you have to concentrate on your mind, while Emma concentrates on other people and I concentrate on my body."  
  
"Okay," Carli agreed.   
  
"So, what I want you to do is sit in this chair and focus. I'm not sure that form karate-ka will help you with your mind like I did with Emma."  
  
Carli shrugged than nodded. "OK." She took a seat and stared up at Shalimar and Emma.  
  
"I want you to close your eyes and concentrate," Shalimar instructed. Carli closed her eyes then raised her eyebrows. "Now, I want you to read my mind and tell me what I did earlier today."  
  
Carli almost burst out laughing. "I can't do that!"  
  
"Just try, it's OK if you can't do it immediately, just tell me what you see, hear, or smell, all your senses are attuned to your forsight."  
  
"You did your homework---"  
  
"Shhh, concentrate," Emma silenced.   
  
Carli's eyebrows furrowed, her fingers touched her temple. "I smell . . . food . . . uh---cereal . . ."  
  
Shalimar and Emma passed a glance at each other. "OK, what do you hear?"  
  
Carli paused. "Uh---arguing, Shalimar and Brennan . . . about something, I can't hear all of it."   
  
"Can you see anything?" Shalimar asked.  
  
Carli paused almost a minute. Then her hands dropped and she stared up at Shalimar. "You kissed him! I saw it, as clearly as I you now! . . ." She stood up in joy. "I did it! I did it!" Shalimar grinned, Emma laughed. Carli jumped up and down. "I've never done that before . . . wait a second . . . you kissed Brennan? . . ." 


	6. Secrets the End

* * *Jesse's Computer* * *  
  
Emma was sitting in a chair looking intently on the screen. Jesse walked inside carrying a plate with a bologna sandwich on it. "What are you doing? . . . Did Adam ask you do something? . . . Did something happen?" he panicked.  
  
Emma grinned at his panicking. "No . . . me and Shalimar are gonna take Carli to a movie, I'm checking for times," she explained. Jesse sighed in relief. "So . . . I guess someone told you about what happened between Shalimar and Brennan, huh?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah," Jesse answered. "A little strange isn't it, how those things can happen impulsively."  
  
Emma nodded, her eyes still on the screen. "Yes . . ." she responded, not really paying attention.  
  
Jesse's heart fell that Emma couldn't even pay attention in their conversation.  
  
"I wonder what they are gonna do . . . I was sensing Shalimar's awkwardness," Emma replied. "That and she told me how awkward she was feeling."  
  
Jesse's spirit lightened. "So . . . what movie are you gonna see?"  
  
"I dunno . . . so many movies playing, haven't seen a movie in a theater since I came here," Emma said. "Been so busy with saving the world and all."  
  
"Yeah . . . and all," Jesse responded. "Well, if you don't see a movie later, I'll take you to one sometime."  
  
Emma raised her eyebrow and made eye contact with Jesse. "Jesse, are you asking me out?"  
  
"Uh---maybe--well," he stammered.  
  
Emma grinned at his stuttering. "Well, when you do decide, I'll be in my room," she got out of the chair and started to walk away.  
  
"Hey, wait," Jesse grabbed her hand, making her stop. Suddenly, Emma saw into his mind, the emotions swarming around her, the love, the passion . . . the want. Emma then shot the same thoughts to Jesse, feeling the exact same thing at the exact same moment, suddenly, they moved together and their lips found each other. Jesse's arms went around Emma's waist, and hers around Jesse's neck. The seconds flew by, until Emma pulled away.  
  
"Wait, what is it? What's wrong?" Jesse asked.  
  
"Jesse . . . I can't," Emma didn't want to explain that she wasn't feeling the same herself, that she was just reflecting Jesse's emotion, but she sensed that he was so happy, and that the truth the could hurt him dearly. "I have to go." Emma walked away, wiping off her mouth. "I'm sorry."   
  
"What'd I do?" Jesse asked.  
  
Emma opened the door to her bedroom, she dropped onto her bed and screamed in her pillow. Shalimar heard it and walked in. "What? What happened?"  
  
Emma rolled over and looked at her. "I kissed him."  
  
"Brennan?" Shalimar asked.  
  
"No! Jesse . . ." Emma explained. Then she explained the power reflection.  
  
"Oh . . . that can't be good, Jesse will be crushed!" Shalimar replied.  
  
"I know . . ."  
  
"But what about you?" Shalimar asked.  
  
"What about me?"  
  
"Well, I'd hate to sound like a psychiatrist but "how does that make you feel?"  
  
Emma made a face. "I don't know."  
  
* * *Later* * *  
  
Carli walked near the door to the garage where they kept the Helix. "Are we going to a movie yet?" she shouted. Jesse, Emma, Brennan, and Shalimar walked up. Emma stopped when she saw Jesse, Jesse stopped when he saw Emma. Shalimar stopped when she Brennan, and Brennan stopped when he saw Shalimar.  
  
Carli's eyebrows furrowed, then an electric shock of pain hit her temple. "Ah---why do have to think so loudly . . ."  
  
"Excuse me?" Emma asked.  
  
"Man! Why are you thinking so much, you're acting like---" Then she stumbled, another shock of pain hit her head.   
  
"Carli?" Brennan asked.   
  
"What's wrong?" Shalimar asked, they all stepped toward her.  
  
Carli held up her hands. "Wait, don't come any closer . . . you're so loud!" Her hands clutched her head. "Just stop!" The pain was too much, then their worried voices and thoughts got more quiet, then it all went black.  
  
Carli collapsed. They rushed to her side.  
  
"What happened?" Jesse asked.  
  
* * *Lab* * *  
  
Carli came to consciousness on a big chair in the lab. Yellow beams spread over her body. She tried to concentrate but she was too weak. Right after the scan ended, Adam and Emma came running in.  
  
"Carli . . . I don't know to tell you this . . . you have brain cancer, that's why you've lost control of your telepathy," Adam tried to break the news.  
  
"I know . . . I've known since I was eleven . . ." Carli said as she got on her feet.   
  
"How come it didn't come on the scan last time?" Emma asked Adam.   
  
"It did, I cloaked it from your vision, making you see that nothing came up," Carli said as if were nothing.   
  
Brennan, Jesse, and Shalimar walked in after overhearing.  
  
"You can do that?" Shalimar asked.   
  
Carli inhaled deeply to explain. "See, when I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer when I was eleven, my powers started to grow really fast. So three years later, I've learned to control it. But now, my actual DNA is mutating now making my powers grow again but this time I haven't controlled them."  
  
"So you're brain cancer AND your DNA are making your powers grow?" Adam asked.  
  
"That's how I figure it, you're the "pioneer" why don't you tell me?" Carli asked.   
  
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Jesse asked. "They could've helped you."  
  
"I'll let you use your imagination on that one," Carli looked down, then she shot a telepathic signal, making them all think she was still there, then Carli walked out. As soon as she was out the door, the visual cloaking wore off because she was weak.  
  
"Brennan, stop her!" Adam yelled. "Use your powers anything!"   
  
Brennan shot out the door, Carli was making it towards the garage. Carli stopped when she sensed him coming. She turned around. "Come on, Adam can help you."  
  
"I don't want Adam's help, Brennan. That's why I didn't want anyone finding out, because I didn't want to spend the rest of my days in a hospital bed."  
  
"You won't . . ."  
  
"You don't know that," Carli stated.  
  
"Fine, if you wanna be that way," Brennan held out his hands, blue sparks came between his fingers, he held his palms together and the sparks became harnessed energy.  
  
Carli's left hand went to her temple and her right hand was outstretched towards Brennan's hands. Brennan closed his eyes. "I can't . . . make myself shoot my powers . . ."  
  
"That's because she's using her powers against your mind not want to," Adam explained.  
  
"That's right . . . I'll stay, but I don't want you to help me, I want to live my life out."  
  
"Do you want to die?"  
  
"No, but I surely don't want to die attached to a life support machine," Carli replied.  
  
* * *Lab* * *  
  
"I'm sorry, I tried to save you from it, but instead I just slowed it down," Adam apologized.  
  
"Nothing to be sorry for, Adam. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have made it this far," Carli responded. "I would've died when I was little."  
  
"But you still are little, you're only fourteen."  
  
"Only fourteen? Trust me, Adam, I'm ready to die when I'm ready to die. Doesn't matter if I'm old enough," Carli answered. "I'm not afraid. But I do ask something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You take me to Mr. Eckhart. I want to speak with him."  
  
"You can't, he'll keep you in one of those pods."  
  
"If he can get a hand on me, I can protect myself."  
  
* * *In the Double Helix* * *  
  
Carli was sitting in a chair. Shalimar turned around from her seat. "If anything happens down there, Carli, we'll be up here. Just whistle, I can hear it, we'll be down there in a flash."  
  
"OK, but I don't think he'll get that far."  
  
Carli walked into Eckhart's office in a breeze. Cloaking agents' visions. The door automatically opened. Mason turned around. "Ms. Connors. How did you get in here?"  
  
"I won't tell you, you don't think too brightly about us Children of Genomex, huh?"  
  
"Telepathy's making you a bright child, Ms. Connors. But I wouldn't flash your knowledge around like that."  
  
"We're alike, you and I, Mr. Eckhart."  
  
"How is that?" he asked, deciding to play along with her game.  
  
"We have a new lease on life, now that we're both losing ours."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I got terminal brain cancer, and there's nothing you can do about it."  
  
"Don't be so sure . . . I can do something." He pressed the button on the speaker phone. "All units to my office."  
  
"Oh come on, you don't think I'd come here unprepared, now do you?" Carli asked, just as the doors revealed eight armed agents.   
  
"Get her," Mason commanded.   
  
Carli's hands outstretched towards them. "No, get him," she commanded solemnly.   
  
"What?" Mason asked astonished.  
  
"It turns out that this little cancer thing has gave me more power that can ever be thought of, Mason." She turned towards the agents. "Leave." They filed out.   
  
"You will be more of an asset than I could've ever imagined, Ms. Connors," Mason replied.  
  
"Mason, Mason, Mason. Still acting like you're in control, when you're not. Pretty naive to think that you, a helpless little genetic science-man could control such powerful beings, someday, sooner than you think. Someone is gonna give you what you deserve."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"I see it, in my head," Carli responded. "Tell me, Mason. What happens to a system of computers when it's crossed with a powerful telepath?"  
  
"What?"   
  
Her hands came together than separate quickly. "Kaboom." She stepped back, her hands touched her head. Mason stands up while she's concentrating, he pulled out a gun from his drawer and aims it at her head. Suddenly, his computer explodes sending him flying into a wall, he shoots it, but instead of hitting her in the head, it hits her abdomen.  
  
Carli falls to her knees, blood starts to stain her shirt. "Oh no." She whistled as loud as she could.  
  
"You're gonna get it now, science-man . . ." Carli said weakly.   
  
Shalimar ran inside the office, she took one look at Mason and smelled Carli's blood. "You bastard."  
  
Mason stood up. "She'll be in a better place." Shalimar came down to her knees and held Carli close to her. Mason disappeared when she looked back.  
  
Carli looked up to Shalimar. "This is what I want, to die like a hero."  
  
"Like JLA," Shalimar replied.  
  
Carli nodded weakly and smiled. "Yeah, or Mutant X . . ." then her eyes got a little cloudy. "We'll meet again, all of you." she swallowed, and her voice became a whisper. "Don't get any help, please. Just stay with me, wait until I go."  
  
"OK," she said, tears began to slip down her cheeks.  
  
Carli's eyes became cloudier by the second then the light disappeared.   
  
::Shalimar, what happened? Is Carli OK?:: Adam asked from the comm set ring.  
  
Shalimar swallowed the tears down and lifted the ring closer to her mouth. "Uh--Carli's dead, Eckhart shot her."  
  
::Oh no::  
  
"It's OK . . . she died like a hero."  
  
* * * The End* * * 


End file.
